Drinking during pregnancy is never a wise choice. There are many risks to your unborn infant’s health that are unrecoverable and affect their development for the rest of their life. Alcohol is a toxin. When you drink alcohol, it rapidly reaches your baby through the placenta, via your bloodstream. Heavy, regular or binge drinking can cause miscarriage and premature birth. Too much alcohol can even increase the risk of your baby being stillborn (Centre) .
Risk Factors
A major risk is for your unborn child to be born with FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) and also Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (About.com)
Small body size and weight
Slower than normal development and failure to "catch up."
Deformed ribs and sternum
Curved spine and hip dislocations
Bent, fused, webbed, or missing fingers or toes
Limited movement of joints
Small head
Facial abnormalities
Small eye openings
Skin webbing between eyes and base of nose
Drooping eyelids
Nearsightedness
Failure of eyes to move in same direction
Short upturned nose
Sunken nasal bridge
Flat or absent groove between nose and upper lip
Thin upper lip
Opening in roof of mouth
Small jaw
Low-set or poorly formed ears
Organ deformities
Heart defects or heart murmurs
Genital malformations
Kidney and urinary defects
Central nervous system handicaps
Small brain
Faulty arrangement of brain cells and connective tissue
Drinking during pregnancy is never a wise choice. There are many risks to your unborn infant’s health that are unrecoverable and affect their development for the rest of their life. Alcohol is a toxin. When you drink alcohol, it rapidly reaches your baby through the placenta, via your bloodstream. Heavy, regular or binge drinking can cause miscarriage and premature birth. Too much alcohol can even increase the risk of your baby being stillborn (Centre) .
Risk Factors
A major risk is for your unborn child to be born with FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) and also Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (About.com)(About.com)
Works Cited
About.com. About.com. 8 November 2013. http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/preg/a/aa070997.htm. 20 October 2013.Centre, Baby. Baby Centre. June 2013. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a3542/alcohol-during-pregnancy#ixzz2kBgWUefl). 20 October 2013.